DROUGHT WARNING: South Africa’s Cape Town may become first major city to run out of WATER

Dr Anthony Turton, environmental expert, warned of a “deep deep crisis” in Cape Town due to a series of unseasonably dry winters.
Officials have warned citizens to prepare for a drought and predict ‘Day Zero’, based on expected rainfall, will take place on April 29 when dams will drop below 13.5 per cent.
‘Day Zero’ will force residents to line up at 200 checkpoints across the city to collect daily water allotments Dr Turton, a professor at the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State, told New York Times: “The city of Cape Town could conceivably become the first major city in the world to run out of water, and that could happen in the next four months.
“It’s not an impending crisis, we’re deep, deep, deep in crisis.” Residents are being urged to save water by turning off their taps while brushing their teeth, avoid flushing the toilet and use hand sanitiser instead of water and soap, as they are restricted to 87 litres of water a day.
But fears are growing as citizens struggle to hit the household consumption target of less than 500 million litres per day.
Zara Nicholson, the spokeswoman for Executive Mayor Patricia de Lille, said: “We are all in this together and we can only save water while there is still water to be saved.” Tue, March 22, 2016 Some 650 million people, or one in 10 of the world’s population, have no access to safe water, putting them at risk of infectious diseases and premature death.
Take a look through the struggle for clean water across the world.
Meanwhile, visitors have been greeted with signs saying “Slow the flow: Save H20” and “Don’t waste a drop!” when they reach South Africa’s airports.
However, Ms Nicholson insisted visitors are still welcome, adding: “The City of Cape Town certainly welcomes and encourages all tourists to Cape Town to visit our beautiful iconic city.
“Tourism is a major job creator and one our most important sectors”.

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